Podcast #157 Red and Black Belt Caique Elias

We all know how the belt ranking system goes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu: white to blue to purple to brown to black. For most of us, attaining the black belt is a dream. Some of us will make it, but statistically speaking, the majority of folks who train jiu-jitsu never achieve their black belt. So it is extremely special when someone in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community advances past the black belt and is awarded their red and black belt, a rank that typically requires being a black belt for twenty-five years.

In the United States, there are less people with red and black belts than you have fingers on one hand. But that number just grew by one recently, when Carlos Enrique “Caique” Elias was awarded his red and black belt by none other than Rickson Gracie. In today’s episode of The FightWorks Podcast, we sit down with Caique for a long conversation about his introduction to the Gracie family, jiu-jitsu back in the day in Rio de Janeiro, his arrival in the United States, jiu-jitsu today, and much more. And yes, we determine the origin of his nickname, Caique!

Also in this episode, Aesopian stops by to discuss a popular recent post on his website called 10 Quick Tips for White Belts. We will examine five of those tips this week, and save the second half for next week’s show!